Over the last three years, the Balkans have seen a massive influx of refugees fleeing violence and poverty and seeking asylum in the European Union. Yet as borders close, these migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia find themselves stuck in Serbia, where they are housed in refugee camps and forced to adapt to life in a country which itself is still excluded from the West. In his new award-winning film Logbook Serbistan, renowned documentary filmmaker Želimir Žilnik follows the daily lives of migrants as they adapt to the reality of living in Serbia and works with them to tell their stories, as harrowing as they are humorous. The result is an incisive docudrama, showing not only the system of forcible exclusion in place on Europe’s borders, but also its grey zones and loopholes for self-empowerment. Žilnik joins in conversation with philosopher BORIS BUDEN to talk about the response to the migration flows in former Yugoslavia.

Želimir Žilnik has written and directed numerous feature and documentary films which have reaped many awards at numerous domestic and international film festivals. Žilnik is renowned as an initiator of the docudrama genre. Alongside his filmmaking and production work, he has also been active in educational activities. He lives and works in Novi Sad, Serbia.